GETPID, GETPPID - reference manual online

Get parent or calling process identification.

Chapter

November 2, 2006

GETPID(2) BSD System Calls Manual GETPID(2)NAME
getpid, getppid — get parent or calling process identification
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
pid_t
getpid(void);
pid_t
getppid(void);
DESCRIPTION
The getpid() system call returns the process ID of the calling process. Though the ID is
guaranteed to be unique, it should NOT be used for constructing temporary file names, for
security reasons; see mkstemp(3) instead.
The getppid() system call returns the process ID of the parent of the calling process.
ERRORS
The getpid() and getppid() system calls are always successful, and no return value is
reserved to indicate an error.
SEE ALSOfork(2), getpgrp(2), kill(2), setpgid(2), setsid(2), exec(3)STANDARDS
The getpid() and getppid() system calls are expected to conform to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990
(“POSIX.1”).
HISTORY
The getpid() function appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.BSD November 2, 2006 BSD